Consumption
by PsychoMike5469
Summary: This is my first Fanfic ever and would greatly appreciate some feedback. Something ancient is stirring, something that is far worse that anything anyone in the PJO universe has ever encountered. Slight Gears of War as well.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: this is my first fanfic ever and would greatly appreciate some reviews to help better myself and create a better story for you guys! BTW I don't own anything, PJO belongs to Rick Riordan and Halo to 343 Industries and Microsoft. Let's get to it.**

Chapter 1

Percy was running his legs carrying him as fast as he could run, through the dense sickly green fog. Horribly deformed creatures were lumbering into view around him. He skidded to a halt at the edge of the abyss. The creatures surrounded him, staying close enough for him to see them, yet oddly enough they did not attack. A deep maniacal laugh seemed to echo from all around him. It spoke in a deep voice that seemed to have no notable accent, yet was obviously masculine.

"**Do not be afraid. I am peace; I am salvation"**

From all his experiences throughout his life he could instantly tell when someone or something seemed to be attempting to be deceiving him. He retorted in a calm albeit shaking voice.

"Who are you? Kronos? Gaea?"

The voice chuckled even deeper.

**"I am a timeless chorus. Join your voice with mine, and sing victory everlasting."**

"I will never join you, whatever the Hades you are"

The last part which he practically muttered to himself.

"**Perhaps some others insight will change your view"**

Out of the abyss rose three massive tentacles. All of which almost reminded Percy of an octopus, if not for the missing suction cups on the tentacles. The tentacles stopped when they were practically eye level with himself. The first one began to morph near the top as a shape that slowly came to outline a human being began to emerge. He was at first shocked by what came out of the tentacle and then anger swept over him like a flood. There embedded into the sickly pale skin was Silena Beauregard.

Her lips began to move and that same voice began to flow from them, yet it was not her voice it seemed almost _tainted_.

"**Percy don't be afraid, he only wants to help you"**

"**Come on Percy it's not bad it all"**

This voice had come from the second tentacle. Michael Yew sprang forth, horribly deformed like Silena. Their expressions both friendly and kind. Tears began to start accumulating in his eyes.

"Guys I want to believe that it's you, but I know it's not"

Their expressions suddenly turned venomous and a mighty bellow erupted from all around him. The two tentacles retreated with alarming speed, leaving only the third ominous tentacle. It began to move sliding over from its position on the far right to the very center of his field of vision. The person that appeared this time caused his chest to become constricted. Tears began to slide down his cheeks like a person down a waterslide. There Annabeth stood. She appeared completely unscathed and was dressed in blue jeans and a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. She wore a sad expression.

"**Percy why are you doing this to me?! Why can't you join me and make me happy?!"**

Percy straightened up, tears stopping. Annabeth never cried, he knew it was well and truly not her. Percy spoke up

"You're not Annabeth, and I WILL NEVER JOIN YOU."

"**YOU WILL SUBMIT"** was roared out by Annabeth's doppelganger in the voice from earlier. Her hair flew around her face, and her eyes were glowing green. The same deep voice began again.

"**This world will be mine, and these beacons for the deluded shall be swept aside."**

As it said the last part images of the gods being pushed from their thrones, bleeding golden ichor and bruised, slain by unseen foes. The images were of some titans being turned into dust as well. He was now well and truly horrified, for if any being claimed to be able to do this, then it was not to be trifled with.

The creatures rushed forward in a shuffling and completely unnatural way. The fog that had once clouded his vision dissipated revealing to him an endless horde of the creatures that now were coming at him from every angle. He was backing up towards the edge of the cliff. His hand instinctively reaching into his pocket for Riptide. The voice chuckled yet again as Percy was sent tumbling off the cliff and into the abyss below.

He awoke drenched in sweat. Demigod's dreams are rarely ever pleasant, and Percy had probably had one of the worst ones yet. He took in huge lung fulls of air, attempting to calm himself down. He picked up Tysons watch from his nightstand, and read the time 3:40 AM. He pulled on a pair of jeans from this morning, or was it yesterday? Whatever it didn't matter. What did matter however was that he see Chiron at once and gain some insight into his dream.

He sprang from his cabin door and into the crisp Long Island night air. He began the walk to the Big House.

He stepped up the rickety wooden stairs of porch and onto the porch itself. He stopped in front of the door, took a deep breath and knocked three times. The raps echoing throughout the almost silent night air. He waited a few moments before he began to hear the all too familiar clip clop of Chiron's hooves. The door opened to reveal his mentor in horse form and with a night cap on top of his head. If the situation had not been so serious he would have almost chuckled.

"Percy what is it?"

"Chiron can we uh talk inside"

Chiron gave a nod and motioned for Percy to step inside. Once he was through the threshold Chiron closed the door behind him. As Percy took a seat in one of the chairs, Chiron squeezed his lower half into the magical wheelchair. Once finished he wheeled himself over to where Percy sat.

"What has brought you here in the middle of the night Percy?" Chiron questioned

"I'm sorry Chiron, it's just I've had a horrifying dream, that had something to do with the gods"

He noticeably stiffened at this.

"Tell me what you saw Percy"

Percy plunged into the vivid dream describing almost every detail to Chiron. Who appeared to be getting more concerned with every minute the dream went on. After he finished Chiron spoke up.

"Percy I need time to think on this, it is best if you go back to bed, I must speak to the gods about this as it does pertain to them."

Percy nodded his assent. He rose from his position on the couch and walked past Chiron as he made his exit. His eyes glazed over as he stared intently into the fireplace mulling over what he had just heard. After he left he began the walk back to his cabin, and once inside he flopped down onto his bed, and slipped into unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Here is the next chapter, hope ya like it! I don't own anything **

Deep under the sands Africa, something stirred. Something that did not belong in its current time. It should not be where it is now. Hidden under east Africa was a machine that had been there for the very purpose of leading Humanity to destroy the being that now inhabited the ancient machines halls.

Sickly yellow bio mass coated the halls. It was sparse the farther out you were, but the closer you got it made some areas completely unrecognizable. Balloon like sacks made of bio mass pulsed in and out like a beating human heart. Tiny creatures could be seen inside that had heads resembling a banana, then feelers where the mouth should've been, and little tentacle like appendages on the bottom that seemed to be some sort of legs. Spores the same color as the bio mass that littered the halls, floated about almost peacefully. The Artifact was deathly quiet. The machine itself was dormant and inactive, yet it still drew power from an obscure energy source.

The Gravemind had been dormant for a long time. It had bid its time. It had listened and watched, but had been unable to act. Once it had awoken certain beings had gained its interest. The so called gods of this world slightly reminded it of its great enemy, The Forerunners. Beings had worshipped them many times, but that was before the Gravemind had included them into itself.

It had already made the first move. The boy, Perseus, would be very useful in time perhaps. But now he was so short minded and could only see down a narrow corridor. Its tendrils of information stretched far and wide. Soon perhaps, a more, aggressive move would need to be made. But until then it would watch, it would listen, and continue to pull strings.

He allowed the hot water to cascade over his shoulders and down his body. Thick steam clouded the air, and made it fairly hard to see. He had come here after he had visited Chiron about his dreams. He didn't have to worry about people disturbing him at the moment, as it was still very early in the morning. He could hear the faint chirping as harpies patrolled outside.

He was still thinking over just what that _thing_ was in his dreams. That voice still sent chills down his spine. The dream seemed so real though, as if it was happening right then and there. He shrugged off these thoughts and was thinking of just what that being was. His mind drew blanks as he failed to think of any plausible beings that it could've possible been. He shook his head, causing droplets of water to fly in every which direction. He ordered the water to stop flowing and then dried himself. He walked out of the steamy shower pavilion and began the trek to the Poseidon cabin.

Percy was taken aback by the serene view that greeted him. The suns brilliant rays washed over the camps entirety bathing it in golden yellow light. The morning dew still clung desperately to the grass, as Percy's sneakers made their way through.

He veered off course and headed for the beach instead of the cabin. Where the grass and sand meet Percy removed his socks and shoes. He took his first steps into the sand and wiggled his toes, the sand was just the right temperature, not to hot and not too cold. He found a sizeable log that must've drifted ashore. He took a seat and stared off into the distance.

Snapped out of his 'thousand yard stare' by a person sliding onto the log next to him. He turned his head ever so slightly to find out who it was. He'd already had a guess as to who it was and was glad that Annabeth had come down to sit with him.

"What you doing down here Seaweed Brain?" she questioned

He sighed and said "Just thinking"

She raised an eyebrow at that "Tough night?"

He gave a slight nod and looked off. She knitted her eyebrows and said

"What was the dream about?"

Percy hesitated a bit before he told her about the dream. When he looked back at her she appeared deep in thought. It was a little while before she spoke up

"Are you sure it wasn't Gaea or Kronos?"

"I'm positive"

"Have you told Chiron about this?"

He nodded and said "Do you have any idea what it could possibly be?"

She slowly shook her head "For the first time in a long time; I don't know Percy, but I will find out, I'll try to get in contact with Athena and see if she knows something like this"

He lit up and flashed her a brilliant white smile "I knew you could help me out Wise Girl"

They stood up, hand in hand, before they set off back to camp. They chatted as they walked and eventually ran into their mutual friend Rachel Dare.

"Hey Rachel, how's it going?"

She smiled and said "It's great! I got a couple of my paintings and a few sculptures put up in some gallery in Manhattan"

"Awesome, anything else going on?" Annabeth said with a smile on her face now too

"Yeah so next week- "but she was cut off as she suddenly lurched to the ground and began convulsing.

An Apollo camper sitting nearby was looking on and said "Is that usually how the Oracle gives prophecies?"

Percy fiercely shook his head as he attempted to stop her from rolling all over the place and hurting herself. Campers began to stop what they were doing and look at the scene unfolding in front of them.

She stopped and lay perfectly still. Her eyes snapped open, but they were not hers. The pupil had become a sickly yellow and the rest of the eye was bloodshot. Her lips began moving as the horrible voice from Percy's dream spoke.

"**There is much talk, and I have listened, through rock and metal and time. Now I shall talk, and you shall listen."**

The voice rang out throughout all of camp, as satyrs picking strawberries looked up from what they were doing, Apollo cabin members that were once sinking three pointers and free throws held the basketballs in their hands as they turned to look, a few campers out on the lake stopped rowing their kayaks and looked, Chiron emerged from the Big House, with Mr. D not far behind.

"**Side by side we shall march as one, Humanity and others alike, join me children of my enemy, and you shall have glory beyond what you can imagine"**

As it spoke the voice seemed to be heard throughout the campers own minds as well. Some held hands to their ears in an attempt to make it stop; Percy already knew it was useless to do so. At the same time cries of outrage and anger at whatever was speaking, could be heard coming from the clusters of campers.

"**Submit! And I will grant all your deepest wishes and desires"**

It paused a moment before continuing

"**The question remains. Who is victim, and who is foe?"**

Rachel's mouth closed and with that the voice stopped. Campers began talking to one another about what had happened. The voices growing steadily louder with each passing minute, theories growing wilder by the minute. Chiron slammed his hoof down onto the Big Houses porch and practically yelled out

"All cabin leaders are to be in the recreation room in five minutes, everyone else go back to what you are doing!"

With that he turned away, swishing his tail as he did so. Mr. D was nowhere to be seen, most likely reporting the events to the gods on Olympus. Campers began going back to what they were doing, as Annabeth tugged on Percy's shirt before they both set off to the meeting in the Big House.

**A/N There is the next chapter up, hoped you enjoy it! By the way I will try to be updating this on the weekends, but due to my busy life it may occur randomly during the week, due to if I'm going out of town or something. Thanks for reviews, favorites, follows, and stuff. You guys are what drives me to write. You can drop a review if you like or a favorite, follow, don't be afraid to PM with any ideas you have for this story. See ya later!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Here is the third chapter, hope you like it!**

Percy and the other campers all trudged wearily into the rec room, still visibly shaken by what had just occurred. They all took a seat in the folding chairs that were scattered around the ping pong table. Once everybody, except for a large majority of their friends who were either on assignment or at Camp Jupiter, had taken a seat Chiron came to the head of the table and looked at them all before saying.

"A short time ago we all were witness to quite a strange event."

Mumbles of agreement could be heard from around the table.

"Does anyone have any idea on what just occurred?"

Mumbles of no's and nope's again came from around the table. Chiron sighed and said

"I do believe Percy could shed some insight on what happened."

All at once everyone's head snapped to where Percy was sitting. Man he hated it when everyone's attention was on him. He swallowed hard before he spoke.

"I saw some of the creature in my dream last night, it spoke to me and promised me pretty much the same things as it did you. All these creatures were around me, but they weren't really creatures just people that had been horribly disfigured and bent to that creatures will."

His eyes roamed around the room and briefly settle on Harvey, the head of the Tyche cabin, as he absentmindedly flipped his half dollar coin into the air over and over. He caught it each time he did so, and he wasn't even looking at the coin. The coin itself was completely normal on one side and gleamed each time it was flipped, whilst the other side was heavily scarred and blackened by fire. Percy looked up from the coin and was met by Harvey's unblinking steel grey eyes.

"What do you mean some of the creature?" was rasped out by Harvey's deep voice.

"What did it look like?" another camper from the other side of the table said.

"What I mean is that I only saw three massive tentacles, and I heard that voice."

"Could it be a monster from the sea?" someone questioned.

He shook his head slowly before saying "Definitely not, whatever this thing is, acted like it was much older than even the gods, and talked about dethroning them and even killing them."

"Could it be a Titan?" another asked

"No they were part of the dream as well." He said

The room had gotten noticeably silent, and people were looking around nervously at each other. The whole time that everyone had been talking, Clarissa remained uncharacteristically silent, Percy figured she might know something about all of this. Chiron was the first to break the silence.

"I believe that it is necessary for a group of campers to be sent to Mount Olympus to consult the gods."

Some nodded at this whilst others remained silent.

"I have already made my decision on who shall be going, and they are Percy, Annabeth, and Clarissa. You three will be leaving tomorrow morning."

Everybody nodded their assent. Chiron dismissed everyone and they milled about for a moment before they all eventually left.

The next morning Percy, Annabeth, Clarissa, and Chiron were gathered around a large white van that had Delphi Strawberry Service printed in red cursive on the side. They shared their goodbyes with Chiron and piled into the van, but not before Chiron tossed Percy the keys. He caught them in one hand and instantly grew a wide grin on his face. Annabeth rolled her eyes and said.

"Oh gods look what you've done now Chiron."

Clarissa gave a snort and Chiron spared a chuckle at their expense before trotting back up the hill and into camp. They all jumped into the van, Percy in the driver's seat, Annabeth riding shotgun, and Clarissa threw open the back doors before hoping in.

He started up the van and sped off down the street at breakneck speed. While he was fiddling with the radio, Annabeth was determining the quickest route to the Empire State Building through midmorning traffic. Sure they had been to New York multiple times and roamed the streets, but just not with traffic in their way. As he stopped on one channel Percy's hand stopped and briefly listened to the report being given.

"As of yesterday World Health Organization research and medical vessel Jacinto, has been deemed missing after two weeks when it stopped transmitting somewhere of the coast of East Africa. While trying to provide medical supplies to several villages there. Multiple officials claim this to be the work of pirates known to be operating in the area. In other news President Victor Hoffman will speak at the UN today regarding the mysterious illness that has been -"

But the transmission was cut off as Percy absentmindedly turned the radio off. As they made their way into the city they almost immediately ran into traffic. They all settled in for a long wait.

Deep inside the heart of the Artifact rested the main chamber, and with it the majority of the Gravemind's being. Bio mass coated all surfaces in the chamber, some more than others. But the chamber itself was massive, as it held the energy source that powered all of the Artifact. It was mostly spherical in size with a pillar in the middle that contained the reactor, which powered it all. The only other feature was a single lone platform that jutted out from the wall, and was littered with control panels and holographic displays.

A single lone tentacle was up in the air, curled around the shape of a man in a stark white lab coat. The man himself was trembling in fear before the behemoth that rested directly in front of him. It slowly brought the man to eye level with a large barely hinged on mouth. That appeared to be connected to some sort of head, other than that the grotesque creature appeared to have no noticeable features beyond that. The frightened man spoke first stuttering as he did so.

"W-what do y-you want w-with mah-mah-me?"

The creature appeared to be chuckling, and then its jaw slowly began to move spewing out spores with each word it produced.

"**You shall become the one of many to join the fold."**

The man screamed as a lone creature slowly began to scurry up his arm, wrestling to break free from the creatures grip as it tightened around him. He spluttered and his glasses were thrown from his face, while his face turned purple. The creature climbed onto the back of his neck and using its pink tipped feelers, which reminded the scientist of the pipe cleaners he used in art class as a child, it slowly began scanning his neck before resting on his spinal column. It then plunged its barbed feeler into his spine and a whole new sensation flooded his head. He could hear the voices of many calling out, all screaming out in agony and pain, but they were then silenced by the deep voice of the Gravemind. The man began to slowly feel himself slipping away and was extremely frightened. He began to call out, but it was too late as he realized he was now one of the many voices calling out. The Gravemind spoke again in a much more malicious tone

"**Welcome to the Flood"**

The infection form had done its job well and the now the new combat form slipped from the tentacle with a sickening plop and landed on the lone platform. The form shuffled off through the only door in the chamber to join the slowly rising number of forms that had recently been assimilated into the Flood.

The Gravemind was now ready to attack.

**A/N Alright there it is! The Gravemind has obviously been preparing in advance. Review, Favorite, Follow if you want, hoped you all enjoyed it. The next chapter will be much longer. **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Got chapter four for you right here hope you like it! Just want to give a quick shout out to Ahkiline Nightshade, who's input has helped me along the way quite a bit. Thanks for the support everyone! I tried to make this one longer than normal and look out for the small amount of swearing in this chapter.**

A never ending scene of cars stretched out down the street in all directions. People in all kinds and colors of clothing crowded the concrete sidewalks. Far up above a big fat raindrop fell from the ominous dark grey clouds that loomed up above, and began pelting all those below. People began to pull umbrellas seemingly out of nowhere and covered their heads, some held up the newspaper they were currently reading in a futile attempt to stop the rain. Car's windshield wipers began to activate, sending the rain that rested on the windows flying off and into the street.

Inside the large white van Percy had long ago rested his head on the window to his left and was drumming his fingers on the dashboard. Switching between watching the traffic sit still in front of him and an Apollo bobble head that held a big pearly white grin that sat on the dashboard as well, rocking back and forth. They were still pretty close to the Empire State Building, but only a couple of blocks off. Annabeth was staring off into nowhere, probably thinking of how to redesign the roadway in front of them to be more efficient, and Clarissa was sitting in the back running a whet stone along the blade of her sword, which by now could probably go right through anything. Some horrid music was playing on the radio, and Percy couldn't bring himself to turn it off the station as conversation had long ago run dry. Man his ADHD was killing him right now, he turned his gaze onto the street sign and watched as his dyslexia changed the letters around. He was mildly amused by some of the words the letters spelled.

A large tremor caused the van shake, propelling the young heroes forward. Percy's face almost smashed into the windshield as it happened, and Clarissa almost came flying out of the back. People began to get out of their cars, looking around and asking what was happening. People were seen running past the van and up to the north. As more and more people began to join the growing flood of people running, the heroes emerged from the van and were met by a grisly sight.

The creatures from Percy's dreams were here.

Five minutes ago, near the Hudson River.

Johnny held tightly onto his cup of coffee as he climbed the steps into the control room that overlooked a majority of the Hudson River, and the shipping docks down below. He pulled on the door and winced as it opened with a screech. He stepped onto the cheap blue carpet, and nodded at the few men who were already there. He sat down at his desk and began working on last night's shipping reports.

Not thirty seconds later he was interrupted by the loud frantic speaking of the man who was manning the radio. He looked up from his paperwork and noticed a small group of men standing around the man, Phil, at least that's what he thought the man's name was. He pushed out his rolling chair and made his way over to the work station.

Johnny looked out over the Hudson River and for the first time he noticed a large ship making its way up the river and towards them. The boat itself had some odd wax like substance coating the hull and part of the conning tower. On the hull he could barely make out the letters A, C, and then T, O. as the rest of whatever word it was, was covered by the odd material. The man was shaking slightly, as he pressed down the button on the radio and began to speak again.

"Unknown vessel slow your approach vector immediately and prepare to dock."

He let go of the button waiting for a response, but he received none. He looked over the men surrounding him and pointed at one.

"You, get on the phone and get the cops down here now!"

The man nodded and rushed off to make the call.

Onboard the ship and eerie silence reigned over all the ship. Below deck corpses were scattered about, blood stains littered the walls and the floors. Bio mass was scattered about the ship, mostly on the outside, but some remained inside.

Near the front of the ship hundreds of infected human beings stood, a few carrier forms were seen here and there. They stood fairly still, except for the infection forms that were scattering through their legs. The ship was now close to meeting its intended purpose.

The men in the tower were scampering about collecting all necessary documents and preparing to leave, they had yelled down only a moment earlier and dock workers could be seen running away from the docks themselves. The men in the tower had just finished collecting everything and were running down the stairs now, some sliding on the rails to make the process faster. One man was even climbing down a maintenance ladder on the side of one of the towers four legs.

Johnny stopped at a landing and looked at the fast approaching ship. His life flashed briefly before his eyes, he closed them, accepting his fate now.

The ship hit the concrete docks, the steel hull grinding against the concrete, caused an agonizing screeching sound to fill the air. Sparks flew in all directions. At first the ship had impacted the upper half of the dock and would've been stopped by the concrete, if not for the large amount of precipitation that had been filling the river since early morning.

The ship batted aside shipping containers, sending one flying off to the side, and crushing a helpless dock worker. The ship continued on its path of destruction, rammed into one of the controls towers legs, causing the rest of the tower to soon follow the fallen leg, crashing onto the ship. It continued for a while longer crashing into a storage warehouse, where it made it half way through before stopping in its tracks.

The infected that had been waiting on the ship were flung off by every impact the ship had made, and were now rampaging throughout the docks. The police who had arrived on scene were overwhelmed by the sheer number of infection and combat forms. They fired their side arms helplessly into the air as they infection forms latched onto them, crying out in alarm and pain. The bullets evicted several infection forms from their host, but the empty husks were soon occupied by more infection forms, and were subsequently reanimated.

Present.

Percy starred on in horror as the infection forms leaped onto the backs of people running and they were almost immediately turned into the combat forms. He wrenched Riptide free from his pocket and immediately uncapped the pen, transforming it into the ancient celestial bronze blade. Annabeth and Clarissa soon followed suit, grabbing their own weapons and readying themselves for the upcoming battle.

As the first form approached him he instinctively swung his sword in a downward motion, and expecting the creature to dissolve into dust. But he was not as lucky as the blade passed clean through. He starred dumbfounded at the sword in his hand for a moment, before the creature jumped on him, sending him to the ground. Now nearly face to face the feelers of the combat form were just inches from his face. Using all his strength to pry the creature off him, but his efforts were in vain as the creature only got closer.

Just then a large black boot slammed into the combat forms side and sent it sprawling into the street. He was meet by Clarissa's face as she reached a hand down towards him, he quickly grabbed her by the forearm, and was hoisted up. She said,

"Celestial bronze isn't hurting them, I don't know what's going on, and we gotta get out of here."

Percy was surprised at this, as Clarissa was an Ares camper, and they never backed down from a fight. He nodded his head in assent and yelled at Annabeth over the multitude of sounds, the abandoned cars alarms going off, the groans of the creatures, and a woman yelling somewhere off in the distance. He shoved Annabeth behind him, summoned up a wave of water from the sewer and a manhole was sent spinning up into the air, as the water streamed up. He shoved his hands forward forcing the water to form a wave and shoved the creatures back. One combat form was sent into a light pole and was then smashed in half by the force of the wave, spores, biomass, and what little remained of the infected man's guts, poured out and went everywhere. He motioned to the two and said,

"Let's get to the Empire State Building."

As the two sprinted off ahead of him he turned back to the street and could see the combat and infection forms rising from their positions on the ground. He turned back and followed the two down the street.

A few blocks away from the heroes' location, President Victor Hoffman of the United States of America, was about to prepare to give his speech regarding the mysterious illness when the tremor occurred. Moments later police officers sprinted into the room, and were closely followed by a police sergeant who announced.

"Alright everybody listen up, we have a situation occurring outside and only a few block from here, we need to need to get you all out of here as soon as possible."

Protests came from around the room but were silenced by President Hoffman's deep commanding voice.

"Hey! You heard the man time to get a move on!"

The sergeant nodded briskly to the President who returned the gesture. The President himself was bald, had brown eyes, and was in his mid-fifties to late sixties. He was still built like a tank from his time in the military as a colonel. He was none as a no nonsense leader, by the books soldier, and cared deeply for the men he commanded. He had an odd way of showing caring for his troops, and he did so by structuring his kindness into orders. A practice dubbed by many in the military as "Hoffmanese".

A secret service agent was barking orders into the communicator on the inside of his wrist. Moments later the police and agents were herding the representatives to the roof to await evacuation. Down below inside the building itself, the police, agents, and even President Hoffman himself, were coordinating where to position themselves best for the defense of the representatives. Sealing off doors and barricading areas in order to create a defensible position that guarded the stairway to the roof.

There were three stations, the first to act like a first warning system, with a few officers with side arms drawn and at the ready. They were to defend for as long as possible before they were to retreat to the second station that held the rest of the officers, and were to do the same as the first station. The third and final station held the agents, and Hoffman himself.

An agent walked up to Hoffman with a small black case in his hands. Hoffman lifted the lid and pulled his military service pistol, and a few magazines of ammo. The agents readied their handguns, while a select few checked the magazines on the MP5 submachine guns they had brought with them. Loading the gun he looked past the makeshift barricade of chairs and desks, and down the long hall to the second checkpoint.

The first signs of assault came from the loud shattering of glass, from far away. Then the screams could be heard echoing from down the hall. Soon from around the bend at the end of the hall two officers came full sprint around the corner with one of their comrades, draped over the larger officers soldiers. One of the men would, turn and back pedal, firing his weapon into the crowd of creatures following them, every few steps. They reached the barricade and hoped over it, the creatures only a few feet behind them. The officer was instructed to go upstairs and defend the representatives, and to get their comrade treated by the field medic. He joined the few of the representatives and guards upstairs. The other joined the ranks of the agents, and President.

The agents were firing into the crowd, creatures were dropping left and right, but as one fell two more would take its place. Casings fell to the floor with metallic jingles, clips from reloaded hand guns clattered to the floor, and the sound of gunfire was deafening.

Out of his peripheral vision, Hoffman noticed the officer wasn't firing, his voice carried easily over racket.

"Officer if you do not fire your weapon, these unholy sons of bitches ain't gonna be the only thing you have to be worried about."

Scared out of his mind by the situation, he reluctantly started firing his sidearm.

Soon the creatures were almost bearing down upon them and an agent with a submachine was dragged over the barricade with a yelp, dropping his weapon. The President then yelled at the remaining men.

"Get your asses upstairs and protect the others!"

They looked at their leader in shock for a moment. Though still continuing to fire, none went. But he yelled out again and shoved them up the stairs. One creature hopped on the barricade. Aiming his weapon at the creature he pulled the trigger, as the gun clicked and nothing happened. He threw his pistol at the creature, knocking it off the barricade and into the path of the fresh wave of creatures. He glanced around and picked up the fallen agents submachine gun, and let loose a torrent of bullets.

He gritted his teeth and got an animalistic look in his eyes, and was slowly backing away towards the double doors at the bottom of the stairs. He backed straight through them, slamming them open. He let loose a savage yell,

"Die already!"

As the top of the first landing two agents stood with chairs and desks. He flew up the stairs and helped the agents shove all the furniture down the stairs. It slammed into a combat form, sending it flying back into the crowd. Now that all the furniture had been pushed down the stairs he turned to the two agents, with fury in his eyes,

"If I hadn't made it, the good folks upstairs would be less likely to hold out!" he barked

The agents looked down at their shoes which were now apparently beyond interesting. They mumbled a couple of "Sorry sir" and "It won't happen again sir". He nodded and said

"Alright then, let's go"

They jogged up to the top of the stairs and burst through the door. The police man from earlier brought out a chain and sealed the door shut, while a couple of agents pushed some construction equipment in front of the door. The equipment had been used to repair part of the helipad, which jutted off the side of the room, the company had apparently decided that it didn't need the equipment back.

He jogged over to the woman with a portable radio set, which was placed on an air conditioning, who handed the small head seat to him. He put the ear piece up to his ear and listened for a moment and said,

"You get the National Guard, the Army, the Marines, hell even the Coast Guard, down here and quarantine this city, and I want it done yesterday!"

He paused for a moment before saying.

"And I want you get Delta squad down here now to get us off this damn roof."

**A/N From here on out the chapters are going to become longer than usual. Anyways I hope you enjoyed Chapter Four, as I had a lot of fun writing it! Review, Favorite, Follow if you want, as I would greatly appreciate it.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N Here is Chapter Five for ya, I hope you enjoy it! Be alert for some swearing in this chapter.**

By now the last pockets of resistance had been crushed by the Flood and as a large black helicopter fly through the air, all was quiet. The streets looked completely deserted save for the trio of teenagers running down the street. They dodged cars and were constantly moving forward, as Percy looked back he could see the Juggernaut form charging after them in the distance.

The creature was composed of several bodies strewn together hastily, and was going forward on all fours like a gorilla. Its arms and chest were thick, had several tentacles on the left hand and on the right the arm ended in a solid stump. As it went forward it would slam cars out of the way creating a path of carnage all the way down the street. They came upon a narrow one way alley and dashed into it, the Juggernaut form close behind.

They crammed into the alley and as they shimmied to the end the Juggernaut form came bearing down on the alleys entrance. It came crashing into it sending brickwork and dust flying through the air. The narrow alley stopped it from advancing too far, as it turned around and went backwards, before it turned and came charging down on the alley again. Sending bricks and dust going everywhere again, it repeated this process a few times. Each time getting closer and closer. Before it reached its left arm into the alley, tentacles flaring and going every which way.

The sound of helicopter rotors caused it to violently yank its arm out of the alley, quickly looking around and rushing off. Clarissa was about to walk back out before Annabeth grabbed her arm and shook her head and said

"Wait."

Not five seconds later the Juggernaut came rushing back onto the alley with renewed vigor, getting a few inches closer. It then pulled back out and let out an ear piecing roar, before rushing off again.

Annabeth let go of her arm and said

"Lead the way."

They shimmied back out of the alley and looked up the street, to where the Juggernaut form was tearing a new path through cars before Percy said.

"Let's go back down the street then double back around."

Annabeth and Clarissa nodded, before all three jogged back down the way they had come.

The large steel rotors cut through the air, carrying the large black helicopter across the smoke filled sky. On the side of the helicopter a red skull was crudely spray painted on, a crimson omen. The side doors of the helicopter were thrown open to reveal four large men sitting on benches, which were built into in the floor of helicopter. A large black man with muscles that bulged through his skin tight black combat suit, that had knee pads, elbow pads, a combat vest and other pieces of equipment thrown on top of it. He had deep brown eyes, and a shaved head. On his upper right lapel the word, Cole, was printed in all white against the black uniform.

Sitting next to him and tinkering with a small device in his hands was a skinnier white man with blue eyes and blonde hair, who was still very well-muscled, but not like the man sitting next to him. His sniper rifle was slung over his back, and a pair of welder goggles were resting atop his forehead.

A large Latino man, who sat across from Cole, playfully punched him in the shoulder and Cole let out a big grin. A massive commando knife was in its holster on the right side of his chest. His Black hair, and brown eyes were always roaming the area around him.

Sitting next to the Latino man was a large white man, with a jagged scar that ran from his left temple to the left corner of his mouth, and another that ran from the edge of his left nostril to the top of his lip. Glacier blue eyes were peering down on the hell scape that awaited them. A black dew rag covered most of his head, and a small amount of black hair could be seen. Sgt. Fenix was stitched in white across the top right lapel of his combat vest.

The only indication that Fenix was listening to the conversation that was happening around him, was an occasional grunt or glance their way. The blonde haired man would give an occasional smart ass or sarcastic remark. Off in the distance

As the helicopter flew between two large buildings the blonde haired man looked down and saw the massive Juggernaut form following form below, he said.

"Hey Cole look I found one of you many admirers."

Cole gave a big wide grin and a small chuckle, and said.

"Oh come on Damon y-"

But was cut off as from above dozens of combat forms leaped from the rooftops and into the helicopter rotors. Sergeant Fenix yelled out.

"Ambush!"

Causing the helicopter to veer off course and the tail rotor to smash into the side of the building, sending shards of glass and debris into the street below. Cole yelled out a barely audible.

"Oh Shit!"

As the helicopter went into a tailspin and subsequently crashed into a department store at the end of the T-shaped intersection. The combat forms shuffled forward, wretching forward and rolling their shoulders as they did so. The large Latino man was laying just out-side the main compartment, legs and arms strewn to the sides. Sgt. Fenix held out a large gloved hand to the man, and said.

"Come on, Dom, get up."

Dom shook his head back and forth a few time before he reached his own arm up to grasp Fenix by the forearm, he said.

"What would I do without Marcus."

Marcus Fenix just gave a grunt as his only reply. He strode over to the cockpit and looked in through the shattered glass, the pilot sat there with a large shard of glass stuck in his forehead and a horrified expression on his face. Marcus swore, reached his hand in and yanked the dog tags free from around the man's neck. He turned and looked at the quickly approaching combat forms and readied his assault rifle. He clicked off the safety and began shooting at the creatures in short rapid bursts. They started to slowly get faster and were now almost running full speed at the group.

Cole had unslung a large shotgun from its place on his back and was now blasting away targets that got to close. As one combat form jumped through the air at Cole he acquired the target and pulled the trigger. Buck shot flew from the barrel and smashed into the combat form, tearing it into multiple pieces, and yelled out.

"Which one of you freaks is next!"

Dom was in cover behind a car, picking off the nearest targets, those two were covering the main approach. While Damon had taken the left street and was selectively shooting at the much larger carrier forms, that would then burst when the round was put through them, and infection forms would shoot out. He then whipped out his MP5 submachine gun that was slung around his neck and blow them away.

As two combat forms rushed him, Damon twirled with his sniper rifle in his hands, dropped to one knee, and put a single round clean through the two. He gave a slight smirk and said just loud enough for the group to hear.

"I'm so good I should charge admission."

Marcus spotted the massive shape of the Juggernaut form approaching, smashing cars and combat forms alike out of its way. He saw a lone fuel tanker resting a little ways down, and pulled a frag grenade from his vest. He pulled the pin, waited a couple of seconds and lobbed the grenade at the tanker, he then yelled out.

"Get down!"

Every rushed to get behind suitable cover just in time for the frag to detonate. Brilliant red and yellow flames flew in every direction, combat forms were dissolved on impact, and everything was still for but a moment, and then through the fire and flames the Juggernaut form charged through.

Its massive shoulders were adorned with flames and a piece of rebar was imbedded in its arm. Fenix swore and said.

"Aw shit, run!"

With that the squad ran off down the right street, the Flood force lapping at their heels. They would half turn and run, spraying bullets wildly behind them, they would hop onto cars and run on top of them through the more crowded areas.

They had run nearly ten blocks, taking multiple turns down side streets and alleys. They had lost the horde of creatures for now, now Damon and Cole had their hands on their knees and sucking in huge lung fulls of breath. Dom smirked at this and said.

"I don't even know how you guys got through basic."

Damon flipped him the bird and said.

"Oh I'm sorry we can't all have super-secret training like you" he said in his most sarcastic tone.

Dom gave a wide smile at this, walked over to Cole, grabbed him by the arm and attempted to pull him up. Cole shrugged off his arm and said.

"The Cole Train just needs a second baby."

He made a worthy attempt at flashing a grin but was quickly downed as he attempted to hold back his bile. He then stood up and put his hands over his head trying to catch his breath. Marcus turned towards the group and said.

"Come on we still got a ways to go before we reach the UN."  
The men nodded and set off at a slow jog.

The Gravemind's forces were assembled and prepared to wipe the Olympians from the face of the Earth. Percy, Annabeth and Clarissa had barely made it inside the lobby with the thousands of bodies that were closing in behind them. The desk remained unmanned, with the swivel chair knocked over and resting on the floor.

The hurried into the elevator and mashed the 600th floor button, the elevator doors sliding closed with a hiss. They were all breathing heavily, chests rising and falling, Percy had his hands on his knees, and said

"I think that's the most I've ever run,"

Annabeth scoffed, but oddly didn't say anything. He caught the smallest tidbit of a the low muted song,

"I set fire to the Rings-"but was cut out as the elevator lights flickered and the building rumbled. The elevator shook slightly and then the doors opened with a cheery ding.

They rushed across the path to Olympus where minor gods were setting up Greek fire defenses, with major ones directing their movements. Athena stood among the rabble giving strong loud commands to them. Annabeth strode up to meet her mother, but mid-stride she crumpled to the ground and grabbed her head with both hands. Barely a second later Percy felt the sharp stabbing pain pierce his mind. The minor gods all did the same, while Athena cringed slightly.

**"Now the gate has been unlatched, headstones pushed aside; corpses shift and offer room, a fate you must abide" **it spoke in that horrible voice, it chuckled and paused before continuing.

"**Come join me, and spare yourself pain beyond what your minds can comprehend!"**

Another strong voice was battling it, which he recognized as Athena's.

"_You hold no sway here foul beast, you will be crushed before the might of Olympus,"_ but soon the other voice returned with a mighty roar and shoved Athena out of everyone's heads.

"**Silence! I have beaten fleets of thousands! Consumed a galaxy of flesh and mind and bone!" **

It felt as if it was solely focused on his mind for but a moment.

"**Remember this child of my enemy; at the end of the game the king and the pawn go back into the same box."**

With questions evident in Percy's mind he heard a deafening roar from below them, Percy looked down and saw the mighty flood of the creatures smash through the bottom of the Empire State Building. More started the long climb up the sides of the building, smashing into the concrete sending chunks of concrete and glass raining down behind them.

As the first wave arrived the minor gods put up a solid defense pushing them back with a shield wall. The infection forms scurried beneath their legs, and attempted to infect them. It failed as the forms were turned to ash. The creatures quickly adapted to this and instead began to inflict wounds upon the minor gods. One combat form took an inhuman leap over the line and landed on the other side, it had tatters of a police uniform stuck to its body, and held a pistol in its hand.

It lazily aimed the weapon at the shield wall, and fired out the entire clip. The thing with a shield wall is that its only as strong as its weakest link, and once the minor gods were struck with the bullets, they momentarily let up, and the effect was devastating.

The creatures flooded in and began to seriously wound the minor gods some even collapsing under the stress. One began to glow brighter and brighter, white light began to spill out of him like spotlights, his skin cracking and burning. An extremely bright flash of white light made Percy cover his eyes, then when he reopened them in the spot where the minor god had stood, there was a shadow of a human form. Burned into the dark stone pathway. The creatures began to push forward and Athena forced them behind her before she conjured up her weapons of choice, a large spear, he couldn't tell what it was made of but it appeared to be pure light.

She held it in her right hand and swung it like a sword at the surrounding horde. Wherever the spear contacted the horrible creatures it disintegrated them, leaving behind nothing but dust. She slew hundreds upon hundreds as Percy and the others escaped to the throne room, where the last bastion of defense remained. As she was about to be completely overwhelmed, Ares appeared flashing down from the sky. He wielded a giant war hammer, and crushed the creatures with it. Fighting practically back to back, the two fought off the never-ending horde. The ground shook and the Juggernaut form hauled itself over the rails and a primal battle cry was heard. It charge like a gorilla batting other forms out of the way and even squashing a few. It slammed into Ares who didn't move an inch, he lifted the hammer high above his head before bringing it down with all his might.

The creature fell to the ground and lay sprawled before it got back up again, it wrapped the tentacles on its hand around his neck and it squeezed while the stump arm began to pummel him. Athena saw and stabbed the spear into the beast, and the combat and infection forms took the opportunity of her exposed back. They lunged, slashed and hacked at her. She began to bleed ichor from hundreds of wounds, and both she and Ares began to disappear beneath a sea of combat, infection forms, and the Juggernaut form.

He was glad Annabeth was far ahead and didn't have to see her mother fall. As he began to run again, the horde was yet again lapping at their heels. They rushed inside to find the other gods with their summoned weapons ready, Hades though was absent. Poseidon was throwing all the Flood aside, he let up a wall of water in the entrance, and he turned to Percy.

"Perseus what are you all doing here! Your going to yourselves killed,"

"I know, Dad, but we need to know what these things are, and how to stop them!"

"Whatever these things are we know them not, they must have come before us," Zeus said.

He paused before continuing. Looking at massive group of creatures that were piling up against the wall of water like ants.

"We have observed these creatures progress, and we know now that mortal weapons affect them greatly, that is how you fight them Perseus,"

Percy opened his mouth to speak, but was cut-off by his father.

"Percy you must leave we can only hold off this plague upon mankind for so long, you saw how quickly they wore down the others, you must go,"

"No dad, I'll stay here and fight beside you,"

He shook his head sadly, and his sea green eyes pierced straight into Percy's soul.

"No, my son, you must take another path," he pushed Percy back to where Annabeth, and Clarissa were standing.

"Now go, and live, for me!" he said pointing his trident at the group, and water began to swirl around them, obscuring their field of view. The last thing Percy saw was the creatures crashing down upon the Olympian Gods.

As the water swirled down around him, he looked up at Mount Olympus in the distance, just in time to see the walkways collapsing, buildings tumbling over the edge, and then a bright flash of white light. Just like the minor god had done on the bridge, he thought to himself. He shielded his eyes with his hand, and when he removed it, Olympus was gone; just gone.

He fell to his knees, his very soul felt like it had been ripped out and stomped upon. He could imagine Kronos doubling over in laughter and he brought his emotions under control. A hand touched his shoulder, he looked into the face of Annabeth, who had a very similar expression on her face. He turned his head to Clarissa whose eyes were still locked on the spot where Olympus had been.

The sound of gunfire filled the air and they all turned to look at the direction it had come from. Two streets down four men in military fatigues were running full spring towards them. Percy hopped to his feet. A horde of creatures turned the corner about one hundred feet behind them. The men got closer, and the larger white man was waving his arm in a 'get outta here' gesture.

They followed them for a while, saying nothing, and snuck in through the back of a store to lose the creatures. Once inside, the larger white man, corralled Percy off to the side and pointed a large finger in his face.

"Who are you and what are you doing here,"

As he began to think of a cover story, his thoughts instantly drifted over to Paul Blofis and his mother Sally Jackson, whom he hadn't even thought of before. He hoped they had made it out of the city safe.

"We were, uh, visiting my mom and my stepdad, when this all went down, uh… I'm Percy by the way. That's Clarissa and Annabeth," he said a little awkwardly.

The man grunted, content with the answer.

"I'm Sergeant Marcus Fenix, that's Dom, Cole, and Baird," he said in his deep voice.

**A/N There it is I hoped you liked it! Review, Favorite, and Follow if you want! **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry this took so long, I've been dealing with some personal issues recently and haven't had the time to update this. Anyways, I don't own anything, and I hope you enjoy it!**

Marcus's eyes bore into Percy's who returned the stare, he grunted again, this one sounding a little more amused. He looked at all three of them in turn.

"You three are sticking with us until we can get you out of the city,"

The three were more than happy to accept.

"Any of you know how to fire a weapon?" Marcus questioned.

All three of them shook their heads, and Marcus looked over to the blonde haired man he had introduced as Baird.

"All you Baird," he said, and trudged off to look out the front of the department store, partially hidden behind several clothing racks.

Baird sighed and slung the sniper rifle over his back. He reached into the backs of his pants, and pulled a pistol out of his waistband. He gave them a quick once over of the weapon, where the safety was, how to reload, taught them the proper form on how to aim, and squeeze the trigger. He shoved his pistol into Percy's hand, Dom and Cole passed theirs to Clarissa and Annabeth. He sighed and turned to the other men,

"Now are we ready to go get the old man?" he said with a smirk.

Dom looked both ways up and down the street

"Coast is clear,"

He gently pushed open the door; the others followed out behind him. The soldiers looked up at the rooftops, the windows, and all over the street. The three followed behind them with the pistols at their sides.

Minutes later they reached the UN, and stepped up the smooth concrete steps. A strange scene presented itself, police barricades were tipped over, and news equipment lay abandoned; the camera still rolling. A lone police car in the distance had its lights flashing.

The glass on all the windows was gone, as was the glass of the doors. They stepped cautiously through the hollow frames stepping on the hundreds of small pieces of glass. Dom winced as the glass crunched under everyone's feet. They searched for any sign of life, but found none. Finally they found a makeshift barricade guarding the entrance to the elevator access, bullet casings covered the floor like carpet. They tried ramming into the door but it wouldn't budge.

As Marcus put his finger up to his ear, for the first time did Percy realize he had a small radio like device stuck in it. As his finger made contact the radio crackled to life.

"Command this is Delta, do you read?" static was heard for a second before a deep authoritative voice answered.

"Delta this is Overlord, I read you loud and clear,"

"Can you patch me into Hoffman?" he questioned.

Annabeth leaned over to Percy and whispered

"Hoffman? As in President Hoffman?"

A shrug was all she got in response.

"Patching you through now,"

He waited for a few minutes and then Hoffman's voice came over the radio.

"That you Fenix?"

"You know it,"

"Well damn am I glad to hear your voice son,"

"The feelings mutual, can you open up downstairs,"

Silence was taken for a yes, and then seconds later the scraping of heavy equipment being moved could be heard on the other side of the door, and then they flew open. Hoffman's large figure and that of two secret service agents stood there.

Hoffman greeted the men with handshakes, and nods. He turned to Marcus and stared pointedly at Percy, Annabeth, and Clarissa.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, group hug," Baird said.

"Who are they," he questioned.

"Some civvies we found out on the street, sir," he said.

The sound of groans and roars filled the air. Baird threw his hands up in the air.

"Let's get out of here," Hoffman said.

Marcus nodded and the group followed him up the stairs, and the agents shoved the makeshift barricade back into place.

They started climbing the thin metal stairs, while the creatures could be heard ramming into the barricade behind them. The agents looked around warily fingering the triggers on their firearms. The lights flickered and then slowly began to dim until there was only blackness. Snap. Snap. Snap, and then a hiss and blinding crimson light filled the staircase casting deep shadows. Dom held the flare outstretched in one hand and fell into the middle of the group. So that both front and back could see where they were going.

The flare slowly began to die down as they reached the top of the staircase. Screams could be head coming from the other side of the door and the group readied their weapons. Hoffman gave a nod to the group in the dimming light and kicked the door open. As the door practically flew off its hinges, blinding white light slammed into the group. Everyone but the agents held their hands to their eyes in a feeble attempt to block the suns afternoon rays. The agents of course wearing their cliché black sunglasses. The others could hear as the agents emptied their guns.

When everyone's eyes adjusted mere moments later they were met with the scene of the creatures climbing over the side and attacking the surviving dignitaries and ambassadors. One dignitary was thrown over the side of the roof screaming as an infection form latched onto him.

A blaze of gunfire rained down onto the combat forms, completely futile although, as the flood of bodies came over the railings. The group pushed through to the slightly elevated helipad with the sole remaining Russian ambassador. Who was handling himself surprisingly well with a small Makarov pistol that had appeared to have been magically summoned from the inside of his jacket.

Marcus let loose a torrent of hot lead into the horde, and put two fingers to his earpiece.

"Overlord this Delta, we need immediate evac!"

"We are using green smoke to mark our position,"

"Roger that Delta, KR units inbound, looking for green smoke,"

With that he let out a burst of bullets into the creatures. He heard a 'reloading' coming from Dom, as he slipped a new clip into his rifle. Marcus then turned his head towards Baird, who was selectively picking off combat forms with his sniper rifle.

"Baird, pop green smoke!" he yelled.

"Roger!" he said as he slung his weapon onto his back and withdrew a slim canister from his combat vest. He pulled the pin and set it on a roll, after a few inches it stopped and sputtered before deep green smoke began to pour out of the top, covering the backside of the helipad in a dense green fog.

The familiar, whir of helicopter blades could be distantly heard. Cole threw his free hand into the air.

"Wooo! Baby, here comes the cavalry!" he screamed with glee.

Marcus's radio buzzed in his ear.

"This KR 5-9, looks like you boys need a little help," a feminine voice said. Almost immediately another voice butted in.

"Rock and Roll, mother fuckers!" a deep voice yelled.

"Hey it's Carmine!" Cole yelled with a smile splitting his face, as he fired his gun.

The familiar sound of a minigun spinning up could be heard and then the whine as thousands of bullets left the multi barreled weapon and slammed into the creatures, shredding them into ribbons.

"Don't worry guys I got your back!" Carmine said.

Marcus just shook his head as the combat forms were being slowly pushed back from the rooftop.

Percy was glad to finally be done with the battle and wiped the sweat of his forehead with his arm. He looked at Annabeth who also looked worn out and tired. He flashed her a weary smile. She returned the gesture with one of her own.

The two massive black helicopters, or King Ravens as Marcus and co. had called them. Slowly descended onto the landing pad, the wheels touching down, and a large muscular black haired man with brown eyes jumped down from the helicopter. The man, Carmine he think they called him, was meet with open arms by Delta. Cole, Baird, the two agents whose names he had learned were Stevenson and Jacobs, and the Russian dignitary Dragovich.

He looked at the gun in his hand and made his decision. He walked over to Marcus, who was talking to the president. Today had been the day that he had meet the freaking president of the United States. He waited a moment until the president had boarded the helicopter before he loudly cleared his throat. Marcus turned slowly until he was facing Percy, well he was only a couple feet taller, but you get the picture. He held out the pistol to Marcus.

"Here's your gun back," he said.

He stared long and hard at Percy before he said.

"Keep it kid,"

With that he climbed onboard were President Hoffman, and Dom sat. He held out a hand to Percy who gripped it tightly and was hoisted up onboard. Percy helped Annabeth up, and Dom reached down to help up Clarissa who swiped his hand away and climbed up. Percy, Annabeth, and Clarissa sat on one side, with Clarissa sitting near the door. While Dom and Marcus sandwiched Hoffman on the other. Carmine stood up and manned the large machine gun.

The helicopter lifted into the air briefly jerking up and down before resting evenly. Percy hoped that if Zeus was still around he wouldn't blast him and the others out of his domain.

Moments after they lifted off, more combat forms poured over the landing pad and finally broke through the barricaded door. They scrambled over each other like ants in a feeble attempt to reach the helicopters.

The radio crackled to life and Marcus put his fingers to his ear.

"Delta, this is Overlord has the VIP package been secured?" the man on the other side questioned.

Before Marcus could reply Hoffman butted in.

"Right here Michaelson,"

"Good to hear your voice, sir," You could hear the relief in Michaelson's voice fade away.

"Likewise son,"

As the helicopter flew over the city, Percy looked down, and could see the hordes of creatures shambling about, fires burned uncontrollably throughout the city, creating a thick screen of black smoke that blocked out the sky. The setting sun only added to the hellish scene.

They flew out over what Percy thought was Staten Island but he couldn't be sure. He could vaguely make out tanks and other military vehicles as they entered New Jersey, but all looked abandoned and desolate. Hoffman must've seen it too because he brought his finger up to his ear, and said.

"Michaelson, how far out did say the quarantine was?"

"Sir, quarantine of the city has failed on a massive level and casualties are high,"

Hoffman put his hand down, leaned back and swore.

"What about Washington, has it gotten that far yet?"

"Not yet, Sir, reports are coming out of Philadelphia that it's happening there too, and evacuation has already begun. We have evacuated DC already and everyone is being redirected to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex,"

The rest of the ride was solemn, and fairly silent, albeit Carmine quietly humming Fortunate Son, which mildly amused Percy.

A few days later they arrived at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, which was currently being heavily fortified with thousands of troops, tanks, artillery, you name it they had it.

The KR unit touched down on a helipad surrounded by barbed wire and hexcos. A machine gun emplacement sat a few feet away, currently being manned by several soldiers playing Mytho Magic of all things.

A large man in his late forties to late fifties stood nearby with several elite looking troops behind him. His black hair stood up slightly in the front and had streaks of white running through it. He had bushy black mustache resting snuggly above his upper lip. Tons of medals were placed upon his right lapel, and just underneath it, Loomis, was stitched in big black letters. A large revolver hung in the holster on his waist, itching to be fired.

When Hoffman stepped off of the King Raven, Loomis and his men gave sharp, crisp salutes. The president waved his hand in an, at ease gesture and the men behind Loomis spread their legs and put their hands behind their backs. Loomis gave Hoffman a firm handshake and Hoffman greeted him.

"Colonel, nice set up you got yourself here,"

"Thank you, Mr. President, now if you'll follow me I can take you to CIC,"

Hoffman nodded, and the Colonels gaze drifted over to where Baird was standing his face contorted into a scowl, and shoot Baird a venomous glare. Baird returned the gesture with a sarcastic salute.

"Private Baird," he put heavy emphasis on the word private, and Percy doubted he could've said that with any more contempt. He was generally curious as to the history between the two, but now was not the time to ask questions.

Colonel Loomis turned and walked away with the President. Dragovich and the two agents followed closely behind him. The man who must've been the leader of the group of soldiers stepped forward.

"Follow me," he said simply.

Marcus grunted and gestured for Delta, Percy, Clarissa, and Annabeth to follow. They were stopped three times at check points, where Percy, Annabeth, and Clarissa were patted down and searched, while the soldiers all had their identification checked. Before they finally entered into the belly of the beast, and as Percy looked up into the sky once more, he had a feeling that this would be the last time he saw the sun for a long time.

Inside the CIC

Colonel Ezra Loomis led President Hoffman into a room filled to the brim with computers, personal, charts, and maps. Loomis shouldered through all of the people with the president following only a few feet behind, he pushed open a set of double doors that led into a conference room with a massive oak table that dominated the center of the room, and had only a few people situated around it. They all stood as the two made their way into the conference room. A white projector screen rested against the wall opposite Hoffman's position at the head of the table. A man in a white lab coat stood of to one side with his hands clasped behind his back. The blue eyes behind the wire rimmed glasses glimmered with intelligence. His head was completely bald, and seemed almost polished. The sleeves on his lab coat were rolled up to the elbow, and several stains were upon it. The tie he wore was loosened slightly around his neck. The edge of a watch could barely be seen on his right wrist, and a small amount of stubble coated the bottom of his chin and his face.

Hoffman immediately recognized who it was; Adam Fenix. One of the smartest men alive, whom had once played a game of chess against Stephen Hawking for a little over two days. The match itself had ended in a stalemate of all things and the two had congratulated each other on strategy and cunning. He was also the father of one Marcus Fenix who was on the other side of the complex right now.

"Professor," he greeted with a nod.

Adam returned the gesture with "Mr. President,"

The two had a history together, they had both served in the same unit years before and had become fast friends, saved each other's lives in battle. When they had returned home Adam had returned to his previous position before the war, and Hoffman had gone into politics.

Colonel Loomis sat on his right, but the chair adjacent to Loomis was vacant, as was the one after that and another two before they reached General Miran Trescu. A man who had was raised in the states by a Bulgarian mother and a Romanian father. He had climbed the ranks in the army, through tactical prowess, cunning and sheer bravery. He was respected among his peers, and his enemies, for being a fair man, and expecting only the best from the commanders and men who served under him. His brown hair shaved down to a buzz cut and thin beard growing on his chin, his brown eyes were roaming the room, often staring off into space for short periods of time.

On the other side of the table sat Lieutenant Colonel Slade Wilson, the leader of the Marine Corps stationed at Cheyenne Mountain. His single steely grey eye was taking in every single detail in the room with great interest, noting escape routes, weapons, and threats.

"Is this everyone?" Hoffman questioned with a scowl.

"For now yes, we have been unable to raise Admiral Isaac Clark in Annapolis, and are fearing for the worst. Vice President Prescott didn't make it out of Washington, as did the speaker of the house," Loomis said.

Hoffman pressed onward.

"What of our allies?"

"The British are having problems of their own, as are the rest of our allies, we haven't been able to contact the French, hell we even called the Russian, who are doing better than us. It appears that this plague has spread worldwide in less than a day." Loomis said, slightly solemnly.

Hoffman nodded.

"Mr. President, we have lost the east coast," Fenix said simply.

"What are our options?"

"We have very few, sir, if we want to stop this things spread I believe we have only one option," Fenix said seriously.

Hoffman knew that he was of course talking about using nuclear countermeasures.

"No, I want to stay away from that path as long as possible, what about quarantine,"

"Quarantine has failed completely, and this things is running around unchecked,"

Hoffman knew that what he had to do was necessary, but he knew he couldn't abandoned all those souls that were still holding out.

'How many have we evacuated?"

"Not enough, we have been directing refugees to head further west to the west coast, but projections are not looking good,"

"Show me,"

With that the lights dimmed and the projector started up, and light streamed out. On the white screen a large picture of the United States sat, with a large amount of it white and areas near New York red.

"The red represents the spread of this disease, we believe that in under a week, the country may be completely infected," Adam Fenix said gravely.

Hoffman's hopes failed, and he knew Adam wasn't lying or wrong, he never had been. He sighed and broke the silence.

"May god help us all," he said.

As they were led back into the CIC, Loomis led them to a stationed occupied by a single man, who stood, saluted and stepped aside. A women brought in a sleek silver brief case and handed it to Trescu, who sat it down and opened the lid. Two identical black cylinders with a single notch in them were laying on a padded black Styrofoam like surface.

Hoffman and Loomis picked up the identical keys, and Hoffman pulled out a card from the inside of his jacket pocket. The card was completely blank except for a single row of bold black letters and numbers.

Hoffman swallowed and read out the letters on the card, which were inserted into the station by Trescu.

"Sierra Echo Romeo Alpha Zero Zero Seven Five Papa Whiskey Eight Niner Delta," he said.

Hoffman nodded to Loomis as Trescu inputted the coordinates.

"On three insert the key," Hoffman said.

"One, Two, Three,"

They placed the cylinders into the identical key holes, and Hoffman told Loomis to twist on three. As after they twisted the keys at the same time, a small red button that was protected by a glass case, which was ringed around the edges with yellow and black tape. He flicked it up with his thumb and his pointer finger hovered above the red button. He took in a deep breath and looked around the room. Every single person inside the room was turned and watching Hoffman, with looks of fear, sadness, and anger that it had to come down to this.

With a weary expression on his face Hoffman let his finger fall the few short inches on the illuminated red button. As his finger made contact the button deluminated and he knew that the deed was done.

"May God forgive us for what we have done," he said in a sad voice.

All across the Mid-West alarms blared in secret underground complexes, large mechanical hatches opened and sleek missiles flew out of them and up into the stratosphere, before the first stages of rockets flew away and the targeting systems took over, causing the nuclear warheads to descend back to Earth.

In Washington D.C.

She stopped and looked over the edge of the freeway onto the city below, her father behind her holding off a few of the monsters with a baseball bat.

"Get out of here! Run!" her father shouted.

She couldn't run anymore she was so tired of running away from everything. She squinted as she could just barely make out a cylinder falling impossibly fast to the city. She lost it seconds later. Before suddenly there was a blinding white flash that made here shield her eyes from the blast. She knew what it was. During her American History class she had learned what an atomic bomb, looked like after she had watched a documentary in class about the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

She knew she couldn't escape the coming fire. She closed her eyes and thousands of memories and feelings rushed over her mind. An intense heat that was so indescribable rushed over her body and she screamed out in pain. Seconds later she was nothing but ash. Ash that had forced her remains to take the shape of her body, arms crossed over her eyes and mouth open. Her father behind here was the same way. Ash baseball bat in his ash hands attempting to fight off creatures that were now piles of ash on the freeway.

**A/N: Alright there it is, hoped you liked it! the next chapter will occur a few years later. **


	7. Lost Interest

**A/N: THIS IS NOT AN UPDATE!**

**Alright so I started this story with the greatest intent to finish it and I promise that I will, but one thing that I feared while writing this story was the possibility that I would lose interest in writing this story. And I fear that the worst has happened, I have lost interest in writing this story, but I will return to finish this story.**

**Apologies,**

**PsychoMike5469 **


End file.
